Freeing the Beauty
by emmi7thp
Summary: Mr. Gold is given information about Belle; he, Henry, and Emma team up to get the beauty out of Regina's clutches. Not a very good summary. Listed as Rumple/Belle, but right now it's actually Mr. Gold/Henry
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all. Gosh, I haven't updated my Tangled fanfics in a LONG TIME. I should REALLY get on that. Maybe later, because I had the sudden inspiration to write this. Once Upon a Time is my FAVORITE show, I am obsessed, and especially with Rumbelle. I can't wait for "Dreamy" because Belle will be back! I can't get enough of these fanfics for them, I just need something to tie me over until the next episode with both of them, I hope the real episode is half as good as some of these fictions. I have noticed that some of them aren't very realistic, so I am trying to make this as realistic, what could actually happen in the show, as possible. *_Spoilers for Skin Deep(obviously)*_ Enjoy!**

**~emmi7thp**

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><p><strong>Set after Regina walks away from Mr. Gold in his cell<strong>

"We shall see" scowls Regina, then she walks away, leaving Gold to ponder her words and hold his precious cup.

He sat with the cup in his hands, he gingerly examend it.

_Oh, my, I'm so sorry, um, it's chipped_

_It's just a cup._

No, not anymore, it's not just a cup. It's all he has left of Belle. Choking back tears from all of the memories that flood him with just one look at the cup, a bell jingles. Emma is back.

She looks positivley happy at her 29 1/2 minutes with Henry. She walks over to Gold sitting in the cell and hands him an ice cream cone.

"Hope you like vanilla." she says, retracting her hands out of the cell.

"It's better than nothing," he says, but seeing her raised eyebrow he coughs up a "Thank you"

"Where's Henry" he asks trying to make conversation with the blond, now sitting at her desk.

"I dropped him back at his house, but Regina wasn't home yet" she says, " Speaking of Regina,  
>What did she say?" Emma was genuinely curious.<p>

"Nothing, she just wanted a few questions answered in return for what was stolen from me."

Emma was about to ask what, not seeing anything, but then she spotted a small chipped teacup sitting next to Mr. Gold's feet. She could see no reason why anyone would want it.

Astonished she asked, "That is what French stole, that chipped piece of glass is what you wanted to badly...why?"

He looked up at her and the pain in his eyes told her enough, she almost felt bad for him.

"It was hers, wasn't it?" she said, waiting for a reply," she chipped it, whoever she is."

He gave her a small nod. "It's all I have left..., " he paused and chuckled, "it's like we knew each other in another life" he said cryptically.

Trying to break the tension in the room she said, "You know, you're starting to sound like Henry!  
>What happened, did you loose her because of the curse?"<p>

His head snapped up, had she overheard he and Regina's conversation?

"What?" he asked weakly.

"Oh, it's nothing. Henry has this book, of fairytales, but they all have a twist since this Evil Queen, who he belives is Regina, cast a curse on them. Now they're trapped here, and they don't know who they are. He thinks that Dr. Hopper is Jiminy Cricket, and Mary Margaret is Snow White, and a bunch of other people." She looked up at him and gave him a "but that's crazy, right" look.

Gold was astonished, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'll tell you what, I'll make you a deal. Next time you see Henry, let me talk to him..."

"And what do I get?" Emma interupted.

"I will owe you something" replied Gold.

THe blond laughed, "But it won't cancel out what I owe you?" Gold shook his head, "Well, I think we should be seeing him in a couple of minutes." and she lifted up Henry's scarf from underneath her desk. He always seemed to "forget" something everytime he got a chance to see her.

She was right. Not even a few seconds after Emma said that, the bell on the door rang again and Henry came bursting thorough.

"Hey kid, did you forget something again?" she laughed, "I'm surpriesed Regina let you come back."

"Oh, she's not home yet" he said dismissively.

"Not home yet? I thought she would have gone home after she came here?" Emma looked over at Mr. Gold, and he shruged at her.

"I know where she is though, she's at the hospital," he said.

"Why is she there, that's a little suspicious." said Emma, and she picked up her keys again "Well get your scarf, I'll drop you off there."

But Mr. Gold cleared is throat. Emma looked over at him, "Oh right." She leaned down too Henry "Mr. Gold would like a word with you real quick."

Henry looked a little nervous, but Emma's look reassured him.

"In private please." piped in Mr. Gold.

"Right," said Emma, "I'll leave you to it, but quick, I don't want Regina to chop my head off for spending too long with Henry. Scream if you need me, alright, kid?" she joked, and went into another room.

Henry went down and sat on the couch, inhabited by his mother not moments ago. "Good afternoon Mr. Gold" said Henry.

But Gold went straight down to the point. "So, Emma tells me about this book you have, of fairy tales, I was wondering if you still had it." Maybe it had information about Belle. Even though the Queen told him she was dead, he had believed her, but never truely given up hope.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gold, I lost it, but I know it by heart I could...wait, you don't think I'm crazy,  
>do you?" He said, doubting anyone would believe his tales, exexpt for Graham.<p>

"No, not at all my boy, I actually think you might be onto something... I just, have one question is there anything about a woman named Belle, in there?" he said, his voice shaking and unknowingly picking the cup back up and holding it.

"As a matter of fact, yes, there is sir. She is the beauty in Beauty in the Beast. I just can't figure out who she is here though." he said.

"Excuse me?" stammered Gold.

"Well you see, sir, everyone in my book was sent here, and everyone living in Happily Ever After has a counterpart here, and I haven't seen Belle before."

"And you won't" said Mr. Gold roughly.

"Why not?" said Henry, "Did something happen to her that I don't know about?"

"She died." said Gold, looking down.

"Wait, have you read it, how did you know?" said Henry

Gold chuckled, "It's complicated."

"No wait, you couldn't have read my book, or else you would know, unless..." Henry stopped.

"What is it, boy, spit it out." Gold had a feeling Henry knew something he didn't.

"Just to check, you don't think I'm crazy...at all?"

"Why?"

"It's just, the Beast, who took Belle, his name was Rumplestiltskin, and well, I have been trying to ficure out who everyone was, and I was thinking that..." Henry paused, "You were Rumplestiltskin."

He stopped to wait for Gold's reaction.

"Well done boy" said Gold, knowing that he might regret later telling Henry his true identity.

"I was right!" exclaimed Henry, "Wait, so that means, you don't know" almost smiling about the news he was about to give to Gold.

"Know what?" said Gold, not daring to get his hopes up in case of disappointment.

Henry looked at the man, wide eyed like a child, holding his chipped cup in one hand and his cane in another. Henry smiled at the sight of the cup, it proved that Mr. Gold was indeed, Rumpelstiltskin.

"Belle's alive."


	2. Chapter 2

**I am astonished at the amount of emails I had this morning. Its so exciting! I am home sick so I have been writing on and off all day. I am currently writing 3 chapters at the same time, because I have inspiration for ideas later on in the story and I don't want to loose them. Again, I am trying to keep the plot and the characters as true to story as possible. I am not in love with the title, so any ideas for a different/better title? Maybe chapter names instead of just chap 1, chap 2, etc.? Sorry this one isn't as long, but hopefully later chapters will be longer. Well, ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time and all of it's characters are property of Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, and ABC. **

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><p>"She's WHAT!, don't you lie to me boy." said Gold, standing up and reaching at Henry through the bars.<p>

Henry backed up a little." I swear sir, I'm not lying. My mom is the liar. She made up the whole thing. When Belle left your castle she was upset and had her guard down and the Queen took her and locked her up in her dungeons. Since she was locked up when the curse was enacted in Happily Ever After, she is locked up here."

"How" he said through gritted teeth, his mind whirring, trying to process the information he had just been given. He was feeling this weird mixed emotion, extreme happiness and extreme anger at the same time.

"I don't know yet, sir."

Gold got up and started pacing around the cell.

"I own this town. How has she managed to hide her from me all of this time!"

"Emma said my mom talked to you earlier, what did she say?"

Something dawned on Gold, perhaps something the Queen said would lead him straight to Belle.

"I told her not to let the bars fool her, that I owned this town..." he stopped to think.

"And!" said Henry, hoping to get more information out of Gold.

"She said that we shall she." Gold said.

" That means that she is keeping Belle hostage, somewhere you couldn't find her, somewhere no one knows about, but her." said Henry.

"Why didn't she kill her?" asked Gold to himself outloud.

Henry piped into Mr. Gold's outloud thinking," My mom wants people to suffer, she knew that if you thought she was dead, then eventually figured out she was alive, you would suffer more than if she was actually dead."

"I realize that." said Gold, more angry that he wanted to. He sat down, still holding his precious cup, to think about where his Belle was. The thing that he realized was, Henry was right. Had Belle actually been dead, he at least wouldn't have to face her, to see what his curse had done to her. What HE had done to her. Not only had Belle's father shut her out, he had too. He shut out her, and her love. He was no better than Moe French. Truth be told, he was worse.

All of a sudden, Emma walked out of the back room.

"Alright Henry, we have to go, I've given Mr. Gold as much time as I can without Regina killing me. Even now she might kill me. We've got to beat Regina home from the hospital."

Just then Henry and Mr. Gold looked at each other, both thinking the same thing.

"She's at the hospital."

Then they both started talking at the same time.

"That's the only place she could be"

"But where?"

"We'll figure it out, it's not that big a place."

Then Emma piped in. "Okay, I don't know what you're talking about, but we have to go Henry." she starts wrestling him out of the door.

"Don't worry, Mr. Gold, I'll find her." shouts Henry and while Emma is grabbing her things and getting Henry out of the door of the police station, her phone rings.

"Hold on Henry, it's your mom."

She answers it by saying," Sorry Ms. Mayor, he came back..."

"No, no need, at least he wasn't home alone. Listen, Sheriff Swan, I am stuck at the hospital tending to Mr. French, trying to convince him not to press charges, just drop Henry off here." said Regina, muffled through the phone.

"Sure, no problem." says Emma, but strained.

With that, she shuts the door, leaving Gold alone.

"Thank you, boy" he says and he hears Emma's car doors shut and her drive away with his last hope to find his precious Belle.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ahhh! It's so exciting how many people have subscribed to updates! I was writing Chapter 2 and 4 at the same time, but I had no ideas for this chapter. So I will write now and see how it goes.**  
><strong>Alrighty then, enjoy the chapter that as of now, has not been written.<strong>

_**Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time and all of it's characters are property of Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, and ABC.**_

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><p>Emma pulled up to Storybrooke General Hosptial in her police car to let Henry out.<p>

"Okay kid, your mom should be done in a minute, just wait in the lobby," she stopped," and call me if she's not out in 10 minutes, okay." She un-locked the doors and let him out, wanting to reasure him that she was there for him.

"Bye, Emma." he said forlornly and walked up to the door. He gave her one small wave, and went inside.

Emma waved back and drove away, back to the police station.

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><p>She sat in the corner, huddled up in a ball. There was not much light in the dim cell, the windows were darkened and there were bars across them.<p>

She never had any visitors, not today, not ever.

Except for one. The Mayor.

Regina walked through the dark hallways until she got to a specific room. There was a small flap at eye level. It squeaked when she lifted it up and stared into the cell triumphantly.  
>There sat her captive. Her prisoner. Her beauty. The sight of her still there, unknown to anyone but her and the nurse made her almost want to laugh out loud. Mr. Gold's words still fresh in her mind.<p>

_"Don't let these bars fool you, dear. I'm the one with the power around here. I'm going to be out of here in no time, and nothing between us will change."_

_"We shall see."_

The girl in the dirty hospital gown looked up at Regina.

"It's her again" she thought. The woman with the short black hair seemed very firmilar, yet couldn't quite remember who she reminded her of. She came to visit her often.

"Miss French." she said.

The girl nodded to acknowledge her, she doubted whether her voice still worked due to disuse over such a long period of time.

"Do you know why you are here?" said the Mayor with the most triumphant tone in her voice.

The girl shook her head.

This caused Regina great satisfaction.

"The pills were working." Her Majesty thought to herself. Everyday the nurse was required to give the girl a pill, said to be for her own health, but all it was doing was relieving her of her memories.

Her real memories. Somehow, small parts of the girl's real memories managed to survive the curse, and when the Queen found this out, she did everything she could to get rid of them.

But Belle was not stupid. She knew better than that.

Regina closed the sqeaky flap and walked away. Right after the woman left Emily started thinking about who she was. As the woman's footsteps grew quieter Emily tried harder and harder to remember.

_"Did my carrige splash you?" said the woman, whose head was sticking out of the door of a rather intimidating carrige._

_"Oh, no, I'm fine." said Belle, and she began to turn away, but the Queen spoke again._

_"You know, I'm tired of riding. I'll stretch my legs and walk with you for a spell."_

The Queen, that is the Evil Queen. Emily remembered now. "But why is she coming to visit me?"

Suddenly the nurse appeared at the flap.

"Come Emily, time to take your medicine." She said roughly.

Emily walked over to the flap and took the pill out of the nurse's hand, which was sticking through the flap. Again the flap closed and the nurse's footsteps retreated.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Emily through the pill on the contrete and smashed it with her foot. She got it to a powder-like consistancy and brushed it away into the corner.

She was not stupid. She figured out very early on what was going on, because straight after consumung the medication, she felt dizzy and her memories became fuzzy.

It had taken nearly all of her memories and she had to think very hard about things she wanted to remember about her old life.

However, the one thing that always stayed, emblazoned in her memory, and could never be wiped out was Rumpelstiltskin.

She always hoped that, one day, he would come save her. But that was only in her dreams.

She had many dreams, due to the fact that she had plenty of time to think and sleep in her lonely existence. Time to think about why she was in here because after all, she wasn't crazy. All of her dreams and nightmarish sequences were all about Rumpelstiltskin in one way, shape, or form. He was always there, to either rescue her, or shut her out further. She often thought about her last encounter with him. When he had broken their deal. She remembered the whole conversation verbatim. Emily remembered how his cold-hearted words had broken her heart as they rolled off of his lips. He called her a liar, but she didn't care. He had every right to be suspicious of her. She should have known better than to trust the strange woman, whom she now knew to be the Evil Queen. The Queen's main purpose was to defeat Rumpelstiltskin, she should have known there was an ulterior motive. But Belle had none. Perhaps he wasn't ready to be free.

"I'm not a coward, dear. It's quite simple really, my power means more to me, than you." These words had stung the most. They had put up a brick wall around his heart, but she knew that they were not true, for the kiss had worked.

She thought excitedly, "The kiss had worked, he _did _love me. It had been true love." Again, the amounts of time she had caused her to second guess this.

"He let me go, " she reminded herself, "He doesn't love you anymore."

It had been true love. He did not want her, but, oh, how she had wanted him. Wanted him to realize that he could be loved. Wanted him to know that he was cared about. Wanted him to want her back.

Her heart ached as she thought about the misfortunes cast upon her, but seeing the pile of crushed up medicine gave her hope. Hope that maybe one day, she would get her happy ending.

The nurse's words were brought back to the front of her memory.

_"Come Emily, time to take your medicine."_

__"My name is not Emily," she said aloud, with her underused and cracked voice, "It's Belle."

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><p><strong>Hmmm. I guess I'll end it here. I was going to write more because I had written the next chapter as chapter 4, but it is going to have to be chapter 5 now. Sorry for any mistakes, I'll fix them later, it's you liked it :) Goodnight for now!<strong>


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